Last year’s (2023) beef kill has seen the cow supply increase, while supplies of all other types of cattle have fallen, according to Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) figures.
With data currently available up to week 51, or the week ending (Sunday, December 24), the overall beef kill at DAFM-approved factories stands at just under 1,730,000 head of cattle.
The overall 2023 beef kill figure was just under 41,000 head below the kill figure from the same time period of 2022.
The table below gives an overview of the beef kill for week 51 of this year, versus the same week of last year, and the cumulative kill this year compared to last year:
Category Week ending
24-Dec-23Equivalent week
last yearCumulative
2023Cumulative
2022Young Bulls 2,362 2,973 115,713 131,354 Bulls 310 305 27,264 27,496 Steers 11,224 9,834 685,808 705,028 Cows 9,027 8,060 414,692 409,973 Heifers 9,595 8,268 486,091 496,683 Total 32,518 29,440 1,729,568 1,770,534
As can be seen from the above table, the cumulative young bull kill for last year stands at 115,713 head, or 15,641 head below the same time period of 2022.
The steer kill in the first 51 weeks of 2023 stood at 685,808 head, according to the DAFM figures. This represents a drop of just over 19,200 head in the steer kill.
The heifer kill also dropped by just over 10,500 head, 486,091 head, according to the DAFM figures.
The graph below shows how overall weekly beef kills this year have been comparing to last year:
As the line graph above indicates, the kill in the week before Christmas has dropped off significantly. Despite this, weekly supplies remained above the same week of last year, in line with the trend that has emerged in the final quarter of this year.
The trend of higher weekly kill numbers has been forecast by Bord Bia to continue into the first quarter of this year (2024).